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 The winner of a competition to depict "Jesus of the people"
was this haunting image. Unfortunately I don't remember where I obtained
it, which means that I can't give the artist proper credit.
I do remember that it was one of about 1700 entrees. I also remember
that it raised quite a ruckus as it was seen to be blasphemous, being negroid
and altogether too feminine. It only goes to show that competitions of
this sort raise strong emotions. The question is how we handle this sort
of opposition and controversy.
As can be seen, these pictures show us that non-whites often see Jesus
in different colours and settings. Apart from the "Jesus of the
People" all previous images were collected from a United Church
poster which has been produced to promote the unity of humanity. The
following presentations have been placed in order to draw our attention
to the fact that the world's great religions share some rather important
ideas and concepts. The point of that series is that God's Spirit
apparently is as active in the minds of other people as it is in the
people of the Christian community. This seems to support the
findings of the study: "Reconciling and making new: Who is Jesus
for the World today?" #1, it shows that Christians from different
cultures illustrate their stories in a different fashion than Europeans
and Americans do, and #2, it shows that from time immemorial certain
ideas and principles have apparently been generated by God's Spirit and
have been shared by the diverse populations of the world.
What lessons can we learn from that discovery, and what difference would that
make in our relationship with people of other faiths? Aren't
we forced to the conclusion that we are indeed children of one God, a
God who
makes the sun to shine on the rich and the poor as well
as on the just and the unjust equally? Having gotten to know the
"Master of the Universe" as a just God, we ought not be surprised. |